Signs of Crack Use: What a Person Should Look For

What is Crack?

Crack is a form of cocaine so named because of the crackling noise it makes when the user heats it up to smoke it.

Also known as freebase, base, black rock, and rock. Crack is a purified form of cocaine that is even more potent and addictive than cocaine is.

Freebasing mixes the white powder of cocaine with baking soda and water, producing the off-white rocks known as crack. The term freebase also refers to the act of smoking crack.

As with cocaine, crack requires increasing amounts of the drug to get same high experienced during earlier use.

Terms like “base crazies” and “chicken scratch” are used to describe someone on their hands and knees scratching around for dropped crack or cocaine, further exemplifying the state of frenzy that can come from needing the drug.

Crack cocaine symptoms and warning signs

Signs of crack use are similar to those of cocaine use, except the high is even more intense and the effects last for a shorter duration. While a cocaine high can last up to 30 minutes, crack typically wears off in about five to 10. Smoking this purified form of cocaine sends the drug into the bloodstream more quickly than snorting a non-purified form.

Signs of Crack Use

Rapid speech

Loss of appetite

Skewed sleeping habits

Dilated pupils

Paranoia

Delusions & irrational behavior

When a crack high wears off, the user can hit a low that matches the high in intensity. Mood swings, depression and fatigue are typical signs of someone coming down from the drug.

Increased crack use can result in an increase and change in symptoms. Instead of being on a happy high, the high can turn into a state of anxiety and irritability. Hostility, more severe bouts of paranoia and a complete personality transformation can accompany repeated use of crack. Extensive use can result in weight loss and even violence.

The Reality of Crack Addiction

As with many drug users who become increasingly dependent on a drug, crack abuse can lead to behaviors that would have been unthinkable in a sober state. Users may take to stealing money to feed their habit or selling off possessions for a fraction of what they are worth just to get their next high. Lying can become second nature.

The possibility of a crack overdose can be high, especially since crack can be taken intravenously or can be mixed with other substances to be smoked.

Crack on its own can also cause an overdose, resulting in an extremely rapid heartbeat, profuse sweating, a spike in blood pressure, and in the worst case scenarios, seizures, stroke and death.

Free 24/7 Crack Abuse Help: 1 (561) 404-1474

Let The Delray Recovery Center Help Today!

If you recognize these signs of crack use in a love one’s life, you should call an addiction professional immediately. Our caring staff is highly trained and available for a free consultation to anyone affected by drug abuse today.

As with all our request for help, I cannot offer much personal advice or counseling through our website comment system. Please, call one of our counselors at the numbers below (or above) and talk to a real expert.

My friends brother “really” is showing signs of usage. 1. He keeps yelling my friends name loud and repetitively. 2. He’s walking around the house in a towel “could be nothing” and he just walks by you like your just apost or a object. Its weird. But yeah. That’s my take on it so far.

My parents are both showing signs of crack abuse i have 2 little sisters that are clueless and my parents are good except they are hiding alot from us. I have just recently found this out but i don’t want them to get in trouble i just want to help them please help.

My boyfriend is showing a lot of signs. He’s been stealing from our home. ..up all night…loss of appetite. .weight loss…rapid heart beat…always wants $10….takes off all hours of the night saying hes going to the store…depressed for various reasons. .abusive verbally and physically. Ive been dealing with this for almost a year now…I couldnt take it anymore so a couple of days ago I left home. ..but im worried for him. I dont know what to do…was I wrong for leaving?

@Angela dated may 2013. Same here everything u said I’d happening to me now . He has all the symptoms u stated plus more. Gone for days, no money, no ambition no friends. Hygiene is bad I’m so mad I wanna leave cuz hes not gonna admit to it. But yes i m experiencing all of the above plus more as well.

My mom is acting weird & my sister said to me the in the past my mom smoked & got high , but high off what is what i asked , i worried cuz im cryin now & thinkin about what’s happening , idk i just don’t know

Just discovered my boyfriend is using. He disappeared after an argument and was gone a week. He’s back now with no money, no car, and sick from chest pains. He disappeared once before and was gone a month. He needs help and if he doesn’t get it, I’m done.